


Togetherness

by Calesvol



Series: Naruto Events [14]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Blank Period, Canon - Manga, F/M, Fluff, Post-War, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:26:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29894889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calesvol/pseuds/Calesvol
Summary: In one of their early stops together, Sakura and Sasuke have a heart-to-heart beneath the stars. (Sakura month 3.5 & 3.6: Tempura & "Want some company?")
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke
Series: Naruto Events [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2185356
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	Togetherness

Warning(s): G, none

* * *

Shukuba Town was as lively as Sakura once remembered from the three years during the Interlude where Tsunade would often bring she and Shizune there to settle her debts that had made Sakura into something of a keen gambler despite it not being an ability she commonly boasted of. That, and none of that mattered. They weren’t exactly there to find themselves in any houses of ill repute, or the like.

The sky aloft was spangled with twinkling stars as their forms were like the blots of a bright pink star and her gloomy, nocturnal companion, Sakura thought in amusement to herself as she alighted to the sloping eaves of the inn they were renting for the night in a much quieter, residential district of the hedonistic capital. While Sakura had found herself surprised that Sasuke hadn’t wanted to camp under the stars, she didn’t care.

As long as she was at Sasuke’s side, she didn’t care where their journey took them. All that mattered was being by the Uchiha where she hadn’t been able to before.

“Hey, got us some dinner,” Sakura announced with a victorious smile as she held up two bento wrapped in cloth she carried them in, steam wafting from the orifices in the packaging. “Want some company?”

Sasuke regarded her with a brief smile, though when it didn’t remain, she didn’t take offense to it. It was wonderfully disarming how much she was coming to learn about him, about the Sasuke long absolved of his past sins and with a lighter conscience. The Sasuke that was closer to the boy she’d first truly fallen for in their early days as Team 7, but even lighter than that.

There wasn’t anyone he had to kill. He didn’t have a vendetta to fulfill against the village. Though Sakura wasn’t ignorant of his unease; she knew that he had a reason to kill Danzō, because she still remembered how much he despised Tsunade and true followers of the Will of Fire, of his botched scheme to take over as Hokage during the Tenchi Bridge mission and beyond, and especially after Pein’s assault. 

Her blood still boiled at the thought of the bastard, of the dark machinations he might’ve exacted on the village. Sakura didn’t know everything, but she knew secrets were kept from her. Secrets Sasuke would tell her when he was ready, that she wouldn’t push him to tell her. 

“Tempura?” Sasuke guessed with a perked brow, though half of his face was obscured by a growing bang over his left eye. Sakura smiled as she settled next to him and set the two bento between them.

“Mhm. Is that okay? It was the only place nearby that wasn’t so… _close to the action_ , so to speak,” Sakura added euphemistically with her tongue poked out between her lips. “It was a cute mom and pop place, so I don’t think there’s anything sketchy about it. Not like that street vendor from earlier, yuck!”

Sasuke chuckled as he split the bamboo chopsticks that had been secreted within the container, dexterously held in his right hand before nibbling at the fish and vegetable tempura, Sakura starved herself as she emulated the Uchiha. They ate in companionable silence for the first few minutes, chasing away their famished states from a whole day of travel. 

“It’s so quiet without Naruto here. I wonder what he would say, Konoha’s number one knuckleheaded ninja!” Sakura broke the silence with a soft laugh, paused between morsels. 

“Do you miss him that much? Besides, he still has to study for the Jōnin Exams,” Sasuke added after a beat, dark onyx focused on the kunoichi that made her blush under his scrutiny, grateful for the cover of night. 

“Not really. I guess I’m still getting used to the idea of this being just… us,” Sakura admitted with a wan smile. She grew quiet for a minute, a heavy weight settling as poignant as lead in her breast. “Sasuke-kun… y’know, growing up, all I ever wanted was to be acknowledged by you. You, then Naruto, as your equal… I guess what I’m trying to say is that I never apologized for forcing my feelings on you.”

Sakura felt a clamminess on the backs of her hands, struck with a guilt harder than a freight train. A selfish admission she didn’t deserve to foist on Sasuke, but couldn’t keep in her heart any longer, the muscle ramming against her sternum as she felt her anxiety spike. 

Sasuke gazed at her for a long moment before he set his chopsticks down, turning away but not for the reasons Sakura could dread. “Yeah, I know. It was hard to see that, but Kakashi-sensei said something to me after I put you under that genjutsu.” Sakura glanced at him, shocked but hopeful. “He said that you didn’t love me to want me. That all you wanted was to save me and walk by my side, even if it meant never loving you back. Maybe when we were kids, but that all faded pretty fast, didn’t it?”

Sakura smiled sheepishly as she recalled her younger self, the girl before she knew who Sasuke really was. “Yeah, I was really annoying back then, wasn’t I? I kept fawning over how cool you were. It’s almost like I didn’t care about anything else for the longest time, right?” she deprecated with an awkward smile, unable to face the Uchiha directly. She’d set her chopsticks down, too.

“You cared about Naruto, and his dream. Almost to the point that you gave up a lot,” Sasuke pointed out, the kunoichi’s tense shoulders sagging a little. “And you cared about me. You saw the darkness in me before anyone else, remember?”

Sakura’s thoughts drifted to the confrontation with Team Dosu, of her true change that came with cutting the hair that had been a monument to her superficial vanity, where she shed the skin of a girl and became a kunoichi like she’d sworn to Ino after their graduation. Their rivalry over Sasuke had been a sham, after all. Especially now that her best friend had her heart set on someone else. She still remembered how terrified for Sasuke she’d been, of the boy that wasn’t the man seated next to her.

“No, you’re right. I still care about you guys. Even with the war over, I still worry,” Sakura replied with the hint of a smirk that quirked in the corner of her lips. She found she couldn’t say more, her original concern weighed too heavily. 

“Before I got to know you, yeah, the way you felt about me was really annoying. Like you just liked the idea of me,” Sasuke admitted bluntly, and though it stung at first, Sakura let him continue. “Because I thought you just cared about someone who wasn’t me. But, I saw it differently as time went on, Sakura.” That alone was enough to lift her with hope. 

“The more I got to know you… the more I just wanted to make you happy. I stopped caring about being a dumb fangirl and I wanted to be strong enough to stand back to back with you, and make you smile.”

“Team 7 was a bond I had to cut. If things had continued as they had, I don’t know if I would’ve gone through with it. With you guys, I was feeling normal, almost. Like I could move on, even if I really couldn’t,” Sasuke confessed in a way Sakura had never thought to be true, even if part of her had always suspected it was the case. Especially on the night he left the first time when she’d been the first to know.

It just sounded so much more tangible when Sasuke admitted to it.

“If we helped, that’s all that matters—”

“Your feelings helped save me.” Shock registered at Sasuke’s interruption, gazing at him wide-eyed, unable to remove her eyes from him. Was it real? “I couldn’t see it, but… it feels like you filled my heart up, somehow. Like spring sunshine.”

The flush that crept up Sakura’s neck razed her like wildfire, a burning sensation prickling her flesh to flee despite how much she was rooted in place, her heart thrilled in her chest. What had been pale, fetid guilt flowered into the love she’d always felt for him. 

“Sasuke-kun…!” Sakura gasped, at a loss for words. Her hands covered her mouth, and her eyes shone with joyful tears. Exploding with emotion, she threw her arms around his neck, much to his surprise.

“H-Hey, what gives?” the flustered Uchiha exclaimed in shock, his turn to blush as his free hand scrambled to steady his bento and chopsticks. Yet, he didn’t rebuff her. Not in the way he often had Karin, because Sakura was different.

He trusted her more than anything.

“Sorry, I’m just really happy, it feels like my heart is gonna flutter from my chest!” Sakura wailed happily as her embrace became unintentionally suffocating, Sasuke coughing from the tightened embrasure. 

“Well, you’re a med-nin, so you should probably see to that,” Sasuke huffed resignedly into the embrace, though he didn’t extricate himself like he could’ve if he was so uncomfortable. 

“Uwah, I will, but right now this is the best treatment possible, Sasuke-kun~!”

Sasuke chuffed, blushing darker. “Man, you’re still so annoying…” he huffed despite the fondness underscoring his tone, a faint smirk flitted to his blushing features. 


End file.
